Momentum, in literary mosaic, derives not from narrative but from the subtle, progressive buildup of thematic resonances.

Anything processed by memory is fiction.

My medium is prose, not the novel.

Everything I write, I believe instinctively, is to some extent collage. Meaning, ultimately, is a matter of adjacent data.

I don’t know what’s the matter with me, why I’m so adept at distance, why I feel so remote from things, why life feels like a rumor.

A book should either allow us to escape existence or teach us how to endure it.

To me, the moment you're talking about nonfiction you're talking about reality.

If I'm reading a book and it seems truly interesting, I tend to start reading back to front in order not to be too deeply under the sway of progress.

The absence of plot leaves the reader room to think about other things.

Resolution and conclusion are inherent in a plot-driven narrative.

I take literature as a really serious human activity. It's not just a playful thing. It can be hilarious and wonderful and performative, but I think it's really serious.

I want to make a difference, I want to make a change, inspire a revolution, to create, reinvent, and rearrange.

The thing about coming back from the dead was that your life went on.

that voice was a deathless song.

To be corrupted by totalitarianism, one does not have to live in a totalitarian country.

Stay in the game and stay alive.

I moved to New York first and was really apprehensive about moving to L.A., but I really, really like it.

Anything that broadens your musicality always moves the way you write drum or guitar parts.

Truth that peeps Over the glass's edge when dinner's done.

The doll had an adult shaped body, the thing that I had been trying to describe for years, and our guys said it couldn't be done.

They said you can't go to the moon. They said you can't put cheese inside a pizza crust, but NASA did it. They had to, because the cheese kept floating off in space.